They aren’t operating legally yet — that is expected to happen July 1 — but South Africa’s drone schools are operating and they want to be ready to stake their claim as the No. 1 drone school, according to a report in IOLnews.

From IOLnews. Story by Anél Lewis

The South African Civil Aviation Authority says it has not approved any training schools, organisations or operators for drone operations, and the regulations for these bodies will only come into effect on July 1.

This means that drone schools that have been operating within the legislative vacuum are illegal.

The announcement this week of the South African Civil Aviation Authority regulations for drones has generated some confusion about the legality of drone schools that have been operating until now.

Sam Twala, certification engineer of unmanned aircraft systems for the aviation authority, was quite firm that regulations for remotely piloted aircraft systems would only come into effect on July 1.

“CAA has not issued any approval to any training school/organisation/operator for RPAS operations.”

This was backed up by Hennie Kieser of the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of South Africa, who said its members were busy being trained to get drone schools off the ground.

He said companies claiming to be drone schools were opportunistic.

Poppy Koza, director of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the growing popularity of remotely piloted aircraft systems, or drones, had caught regulators worldwide by surprise. The regulations, referred to as Part 101, were drafted after extensive consultation with the industry, drone operators, manufacturers, state entities and other airspace users.

They state that no remotely piloted aircraft shall be operated unless it has been issued with a letter of approval and the pilot is the holder of a valid remote pilot licence in the relevant category.

Shortly after the announcement on Sunday, Ian Melamed released a statement as the CEO of South Africa’s “first-ever” drone school which opened its doors in Benoni last month. He said the school was the first to offer manned and unmanned flight training.

“The whole idea of the flight school is to have a professional environment that we can enhance now that the regulations have been signed for remote piloting,” he said in his statement.

John Gore, who was part of the training group at the SACAA involved in the drafting of the drone regulations, said: “There are currently no certified training schools for remote piloted aircraft systems in South Africa yet.”

Read more at IOLnews.